


No More Alone...

by by_no_one_more_than_me (Lady_Cleo)



Category: Code Black (TV)
Genre: F/M, It's kind of what I wanted to happen, My First Work in This Fandom, Not Canon Compliant, can these two just get together already?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-10
Updated: 2018-05-10
Packaged: 2019-05-04 15:54:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14596458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Cleo/pseuds/by_no_one_more_than_me
Summary: Ethan reflects on Leanne, and all the little things today that feel like they're leading him in the same direction.title from the awesome Hozier song that played throughout the episode.





	No More Alone...

**Author's Note:**

> Call it the magic of the musical opening; I was inspired to write.

_The sweet heat of her breath in my mouth, I'm alive._

"It's nice to have you back, Dr. Willis." Leanne seems sincere in her statement, and Ethan replies with similarly genuine thanks. The next words directed at him still take him by surprise.

"Must've been _interesting_. The two of you... out there together." Leanne's voice is a teasing lilt in Center Stage but Ethan feels his features pulling with confusion. "I know her and I know _you_."

(There are days he thinks she's the only one who does.)

Rox passes in front of her but Leanne's eyes don't leave his face. There's something... up with her expression he doesn't have time to go into right now. "We're working out the kinks," and he's not sure which relationship he's referring to.

A short while later he spies her and Jesse in the hall, Leanne pacing and agitated and getting right up in Mama's face. The only part of the conversation he can make out over the general background cacophony is "Good. I feel better."

(Oh, boy...)

Later when Ethan is trying to coax Danny into telling Abby his feelings, he again feels like he's talking on more than one level, giving advice to himself as well as his patient.

"I know something about living your life for someone who's gone. I know it all too well. But you have to keep on living." He's honest when he says they're not really his words.

(Leanne's loss feels like a part of him now, and he thinks that's okay.)

His patients are getting a happy ending. "He wouldn't be mad at us. He'd be so happy."

The universe needs to take a break from bashing him over the head. He gets it.

The next night when Leanne gets home after shift, it takes her a minute to notice the flickering candlelight. Setting her keys in the bowl and her bag on the floor, she toes off her highly supportive sneakers and heads for the dining room. There's two places set, covered dishes of amazing smelling food, empty wine glasses, and Ethan holding a bottle of red and all of Leanne's focus.

She's suddenly grateful she changed at Angels instead of coming home in her bloodied scrubs. Her jaw works a moment, fighting a smile, weighing her words. "Where's-"

"Ariel's at a friend's house. Some kind of... study sleepover?" He pours a healthy measure of wine in one glass and hands it to her, fingertips brushing as he starts to pull back. "She said it was okay with you," he follows up, that cute little furrow showing up between his brows.

"It was. I forgot. Long shift." He relaxes and holds up his own glass. The silken arch of one raised eyebrow asks the question for her.

"To... us."

She grazes his glass with the bowl of her own, a muted kiss versus a ringing note, and heads to the table. Her tone is deceptive in its neutrality. "Is there an 'us' Dr Willis? I wasn't aware." 

He doesn't reply beyond holding her chair before taking his place beside her, setting down his glass and uncovering the dishes with flair. He serves up silently, making sure the portions are generous without being overwhelming. He still hasn't answered her question.

Then he smoothly takes her hand, and maybe he has. He says a quick grace, adding a gentle squeeze on the amen, and waits for her to take the first bite.

Of course it's delicious. For a while the only sound is the clink of silverware on ceramic and little delighted murmurs at unexpected flavors, but the silence is companionable, comfortable like the dip in your mattress.

He clears the table and they do the dishes together, smoky strange music a quiet score under their time. That... thing neither of them is talking about still waits patiently to be acknowledged, leaning against the kitchen island with easy nonchalance like it knows.

She starts to move - to go sit on the couch or head upstairs for a bath or just fall face first into bed, she doesn't know - and he catches her hand. Waits til she turns to face him before exerting subtle pressure and pull to get her close, his eyes never leaving her face. One arm slides comfortably along the groove at the small of her back as he places the hand he still holds captive over his heart and presses it there, covering it with his own. It feels like dancing.

He moves slowly, deliberately, giving her all the time to pull back or tell him to stop. All she does is let her eyelids fall as his lips touch hers and the taste is... sweet.

Her arms wind with tentative decision around his neck as she tilts her head to the left, slanting her mouth beneath his to deepen the kiss. His hold on her tightens and the gravity of his fingers splaying over the points of her spine feels like the only thing keeping her upright.

Eventually the kiss breaks, downshifting in intensity not intimacy. She commits the slide of his skin over hers to memory as he dots her face with tiny kisses, fleeting presses of his lips that feel like emotional punctuation. Then his mouth moves to her ear and he gently nibbles at the lobe before quietly pouring a simple statement inside.

"Leanne Rorish, you're one of the smartest people I know."

There's more to the compliment than the surface layer, but contentment has left her a little breathless, a little boneless, and her mind is too busy cataloging the light in his eyes and the planes of his face to parse out hidden meaning. "So?" 

"You absolutely were aware there's an us."

Her laughter reminds him of church music, of hymns and hallelujahs. He wants to hear it for the rest of his days.

_I lay my heart down with the rest at her feet..._

**Author's Note:**

> So way back in S1, I was rooting for Leanne and Neal. And then Christa happened and I went "whatever" and pouted a while. Then S2 comes along and they introduce Ethan and his "Rob Lowe" good looks and his cute little chemistry with Leanne... while also bringing in Cole and that locker room kiss and I went... "okay. A good looking man who'll treat her right. I'm not picky."  
> Then S3 starts up. And Rox is a thing now and I still want Ethan & Leanne to just kiss already. So I'll probably write more of these if I get inspired regardless of how the season goes, and in the meantime if you liked this, consider letting me know.


End file.
